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There is a great habit-breaking app called “One Sec.” You configure it with your addicting apps or websites and it uses iOS shortcuts to interrupt you when you

There is a great habit-breaking app called “One Sec.” You configure it with your addicting apps or websites and it uses iOS shortcuts to interrupt you when you open them, and make you wait for some time — optionally with the selfie camera open — and confirm you really want to open it. It’s extremely effective and I highly recommend it. I don’t have it anymore since it led me to eventually delete Instagram and I never looked back. Although I should reinstall it and apply it to YouTube shorts… App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/one-sec-screen-time-focus/id1532875441 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/one-sec-screen-time-focus/id15...

Taek 5mo ago
Wow, that is a fantastic idea. Basically interrupting the instant gratification loop by just enough to let the more rational mind get a word in. Another tool that I've found to be incredibly helpful for breaking app-addition is the colorblind accessibility tool. You can use it to make the entire phone greyscale, which entirely defeats a huge range of techniques that apps and feeds use to draw your attention. Tiktok in greyscale I would estimate is 1/10th as likely to pull me into a 5+ minute video binge vs the full color version. And 1/100th as likely to pull me into a 90+ minute video binge (which unfortunately does happen to me in full color).
- Swizec 5mo ago
  > You can use it to make the entire phone greyscale, which entirely defeats a huge range of techniques that apps and feeds use to draw your attention As a counter-anecdata: I've had my phone in greyscale for a few years now. At first it worked amazingly, made me hate my phone and pickups dropped significantly. But over time I realized "Oh wait, 90% of my phone use is text and this is actually super nice for reading". Now I use my phone just as much as before, except in greyscale.
  - Taek 5mo ago
    Do you still have problems with doomscrolling addiction?
    - Swizec 5mo ago
      > Do you still have problems with doomscrolling addiction? The new twitter algorithm fixed that for me. They made the feed so fundamentally uninteresting and full of slop* that the issue resolved itself. I now doomscroll slack and discord * by slop I mean content written for the sake of being content.
      - RRWagner 5mo ago
        I only doomscroll HN to 90 n times/day
        skinfaxi 5mo ago
        Is it doomscrolling though?
        harvey9 5mo ago
        There are several different definitions of that word, some of which would reasonably apply to hn. I am glad it doesn't have infinite scroll but it also (front page) changes fairly slowly so I do not develop an urge to check it every few minutes.
        sph 4mo ago
        It is for me. I come here to read how fucked we are in the age of AI. It's compulsive.
- noufalibrahim 5mo ago
  This is something I use on Android that has similiar functionality. It's helped me a lot and, along with a monochrome screen, is quite effective in reducing doomscrolling. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dino.simple&hl=en-US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dino.simpl...
- ErigmolCt 5mo ago
  The greyscale trick is underrated
shiba-inu 5mo ago
I personally prefer ScreenZen. It is a lot less restrictive on the free version and you can just tip once to get full access instead of a subscription. It also has a system where you can “earn back” app unlocks if you don’t use the app for the full allotted time, which encourages using your apps even less rather than feeling like having to make the most of your unlock. App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenzen-screen-time-control/id1541027222 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenzen-screen-time-control/...
- kccqzy 5mo ago
  I used it a bit but it’s buggy: failing to unlock, or just tapping the button once for unlimited use. Eventually it completely stopped working.
  - devilsdata 5mo ago
    It only does this if you have the apps in multiple groups. Dump them all in one group. Yeah it sucks that you can't configure each of them separately, but it works really reliably now.
  - shiba-inu 5mo ago
    I haven’t had any of the other bugs you had except for it failing to unlock sometimes. Ironically that bug has become a feature for me, sometimes after the first failed unlock I just don’t bother opening the app at all anymore, which is a win for me!
    - kccqzy 5mo ago
      If I recall, if it fails to unlock, I mash the button a few more times, probably triggering some race condition, and the app is unlocked for the rest of the day.
- academic_84572 5mo ago
  ScreenZen is great, my first choice for phones as well. Very flexible settings. For desktop, I recently built a free browser extension called MooBlock - it's similar to ScreenZen in that it adds a forced pause before you reach a distracting site. Bu once you reach the site, a herd of cows start walking all over your screen to make the website less appealing. It's available in both the Chrome and Firefox extension stores. Hoping to make an Android version later this year too. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mooblock/eanbagjehdbjikaaoomkkmfikemcedmp https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mooblock/eanbagjehd...
jjice 5mo ago
YouTube also added a shorts timer that does a more in-app version of this that you can set to 0 minutes to have it always on. It's under "time management" in the app settings. Can't do it on the website from what I'm aware.
- chatmasta 5mo ago
  I use YouTube in browser, partially because that already makes it worse… but still doesn’t stop the doom scrolling :)
- maxime_ 5mo ago
  Only thing that worked for me long term. My problem is mostly with shorts, so I didn’t want to have a global timer for the whole app.
  - chatmasta 5mo ago
    For me it’s shorts and opening new tabs from the recommended videos on the one I’m currently watching… I usually never get to them though. Luckily I don’t have tab hoarding addiction and aggressively close all tabs whenever I realize I’ve got 20+ of them open.
sdeframond 5mo ago
I use Unhook on firefox and disabled the YouTube app. https://unhook.app/ https://unhook.app/
socalgal2 5mo ago
I deleted Instagram a few years ago. Unfortunately too many restaurants and friends want to connect there so I recently re-installed. I was lucky to never get addicted but, not making excuses, the moment I open the app, I click the logo at the top and pick "Following" and then I see only my friends. Of course it's not sticky (roll-eyes) but at least there's a way to mostly avoid the algo
- chatmasta 5mo ago
  I definitely miss some aspects of instagram. It was the reels that killed me. Not worth the mental cost. But I have no idea what my friends from college are up to these days because I don’t have that background knowledge informed from the 1% of posts in my feed that were actually personally relevant. Overall I definitely feel mentally healthier without that app though.
- prmoustache 5mo ago
  What do restaurants have to do with instagram?
projektfu 5mo ago
I use the Minimalist launcher on Android and it's working pretty well. I have a rule that I don't use Facebook on Brave, and I have Chrome behind a wait, as is Reddit. I uninstalled other addictive apps, (e.g. Instagram, Facebook App) because I just don't use them anymore. Working better than I expected.
ihaveajob 5mo ago
I use https://steplimit.com/ https://steplimit.com/ to both cure my Reddit addiction and to walk more. You earn minutes on your tracked app(s) by walking. If you run out of minutes, either stop scrolling or go for a walk. It's so simple and so effective.
- gf263 5mo ago
  Whenever I see something like this, I think wow this is gonna be so effective and change my life and then two weeks later it’s uninstalled and I’m slack jaw standing over the sink browsing Instagram
  - DANmode 5mo ago
    These are tools for people interested in making a change. You’re not, yet.
    - gf263 5mo ago
      I’ve been interested for a decade+, but appreciate the condescension
      - al_borland 5mo ago
        I’ve found the most effective tool to be uninstalling the apps, being logged out in the browser, then building up a deep resentment for the manipulative practices these apps/sites employ. Friends send me links on Instagram all the time and it’s always a multi-step process to see it in the browser without being logged in. It’s half-broken and super annoying. If a search query sends me to Instagram, it just breaks 80% of the time and locks me out. If I click on any of the bait designed to lure people into view more content, it will throw up a wall and require downloading the app or logging in. This all serves to fuel the hate I have for these platforms. If they’re going to make it that hard to use, I don’t want to use it, and there must be very powerful and financially motivated reasons why they are pushing me toward a certain engagement model. I once took screenshots of all the BS I had to go through when he sent me one of those links, so he could see how bad it was and stop spamming me with every other video in his algorithm. At the time it was a 3-4 step process of dismissing modal windows for every link he sent.
johanneskrabbe 5mo ago
One sec broke my habit for a month or so but then it got back to “normal”. A friend of mine developed Amba - with that you need a physical nfc chip to unlock your apps. Ofc im biased but for me it works way better. https://openamba.app/ https://openamba.app/
thoughtpeddler 5mo ago
+1 for One Sec, a fantastic app, if one has the patience to wire it up using Apple’s first-party Shortcuts app (which is probably the main reason most normies aren’t going to use it). Really helped curb my Instagram usage down from about ~15 minutes per day to around ~5 minutes/day at most, and often now a few days go by without me checking the app at all. It is remarkable how much a 4, 6, or 10 second wait will just cause me to say “nah, forget it, I don’t care anymore”. Like, how much of a dumb ape am I?
- skinfaxi 5mo ago
  > Like, how much of a dumb ape am I? Don't be so hard on yourself. You are human.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- baxtr 5mo ago
  There is a nice book by Jonathan Haidt about this called The Happiness Hypothesis. He uses a "Elephant and Rider" psychological metaphor to describe the internal battle between our rational mind (the rider) and our emotional, intuitive drives (the elephant). We think the rider is in control. But he isn’t!
  - ErigmolCt 5mo ago
    [dead]
- haaland_goat 5mo ago
  I also love it. Made me realize how unimportant Instagram was for me.
- ErigmolCt 5mo ago
  If 6 seconds is enough to make the urge disappear, it probably wasn't a real intention in the first place
schugazi 5mo ago
Huge fan of One Sec - I think I've tried every screen time reducing app out there and it is my favorite. ScreenZen is another good one
reaperducer 5mo ago
There is a great habit-breaking app called “One Sec.” You configure it with your addicting apps or websites and it uses iOS shortcuts to interrupt you when you open them Also effective (in my experience) is to use the Accessibility settings to turn down the screen saturation 90%. A black-and-white phone is far less tempting to use, and quickly becomes tiresome.
ahmadtbk 5mo ago
logging out of apps after you finish using them is a simpler approach
kombookcha 5mo ago
There is a similar app called ScreenZen that can be set up with a timer like this, or small math problems. It's exceedingly effective at breaking the loop by forcing you to do a tiny task first - you're not impeded from doing anything important, but the mindless loops get broken up.
resonious 5mo ago
For me, 2 kids and 2 jobs has done wonders for curbing my social media habits.
jorisw 5mo ago
> uses iOS shortcuts A friend showed this to me yesterday and I was impressed that Shortcuts are able to intervene like this. The whole premise of a third party app introducing these 'launch pauses' seemed very unlikely on iOS. Based on this I'm now using Shortcuts to mute the phone before opening any offending auto-play-videos-with-sound apps (such as Instagram).
netsharc 5mo ago
The selfie camera should take a picture of you, and after e.g. a year it can show how you aged while spending your time trying to consume Instagram/YouTube/etc...
dmaa 5mo ago
I use browser only, then it is fairly easy to vibcode a userscript blocker, which does more or less the same as this app. It syncs between all devices as well. Of course, one can always turn userscripts off, but the pause to think helps already.
ErigmolCt 5mo ago
This seems like the same basic insight from a different angle: don't rely on willpower, change the cost of the impulse

Taek 5mo ago

Wow, that is a fantastic idea. Basically interrupting the instant gratification loop by just enough to let the more rational mind get a word in. Another tool that I've found to be incredibly helpful for breaking app-addition is the colorblind accessibility tool. You can use it to make the entire phone greyscale, which entirely defeats a huge range of techniques that apps and feeds use to draw your attention. Tiktok in greyscale I would estimate is 1/10th as likely to pull me into a 5+ minute video binge vs the full color version. And 1/100th as likely to pull me into a 90+ minute video binge (which unfortunately does happen to me in full color).

Swizec 5mo ago
> You can use it to make the entire phone greyscale, which entirely defeats a huge range of techniques that apps and feeds use to draw your attention As a counter-anecdata: I've had my phone in greyscale for a few years now. At first it worked amazingly, made me hate my phone and pickups dropped significantly. But over time I realized "Oh wait, 90% of my phone use is text and this is actually super nice for reading". Now I use my phone just as much as before, except in greyscale.
- Taek 5mo ago
  Do you still have problems with doomscrolling addiction?
  - Swizec 5mo ago
    > Do you still have problems with doomscrolling addiction? The new twitter algorithm fixed that for me. They made the feed so fundamentally uninteresting and full of slop* that the issue resolved itself. I now doomscroll slack and discord * by slop I mean content written for the sake of being content.
    - RRWagner 5mo ago
      I only doomscroll HN to 90 n times/day
      - skinfaxi 5mo ago
        Is it doomscrolling though?
        harvey9 5mo ago
        There are several different definitions of that word, some of which would reasonably apply to hn. I am glad it doesn't have infinite scroll but it also (front page) changes fairly slowly so I do not develop an urge to check it every few minutes.
        sph 4mo ago
        It is for me. I come here to read how fucked we are in the age of AI. It's compulsive.
noufalibrahim 5mo ago
This is something I use on Android that has similiar functionality. It's helped me a lot and, along with a monochrome screen, is quite effective in reducing doomscrolling. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dino.simple&hl=en-US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dino.simpl...
ErigmolCt 5mo ago
The greyscale trick is underrated

shiba-inu 5mo ago

I personally prefer ScreenZen. It is a lot less restrictive on the free version and you can just tip once to get full access instead of a subscription. It also has a system where you can “earn back” app unlocks if you don’t use the app for the full allotted time, which encourages using your apps even less rather than feeling like having to make the most of your unlock. App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenzen-screen-time-control/id1541027222 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenzen-screen-time-control/...

kccqzy 5mo ago
I used it a bit but it’s buggy: failing to unlock, or just tapping the button once for unlimited use. Eventually it completely stopped working.
- devilsdata 5mo ago
  It only does this if you have the apps in multiple groups. Dump them all in one group. Yeah it sucks that you can't configure each of them separately, but it works really reliably now.
- shiba-inu 5mo ago
  I haven’t had any of the other bugs you had except for it failing to unlock sometimes. Ironically that bug has become a feature for me, sometimes after the first failed unlock I just don’t bother opening the app at all anymore, which is a win for me!
  - kccqzy 5mo ago
    If I recall, if it fails to unlock, I mash the button a few more times, probably triggering some race condition, and the app is unlocked for the rest of the day.
academic_84572 5mo ago
ScreenZen is great, my first choice for phones as well. Very flexible settings. For desktop, I recently built a free browser extension called MooBlock - it's similar to ScreenZen in that it adds a forced pause before you reach a distracting site. Bu once you reach the site, a herd of cows start walking all over your screen to make the website less appealing. It's available in both the Chrome and Firefox extension stores. Hoping to make an Android version later this year too. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mooblock/eanbagjehdbjikaaoomkkmfikemcedmp https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mooblock/eanbagjehd...

jjice 5mo ago

YouTube also added a shorts timer that does a more in-app version of this that you can set to 0 minutes to have it always on. It's under "time management" in the app settings. Can't do it on the website from what I'm aware.

chatmasta 5mo ago
I use YouTube in browser, partially because that already makes it worse… but still doesn’t stop the doom scrolling :)
maxime_ 5mo ago
Only thing that worked for me long term. My problem is mostly with shorts, so I didn’t want to have a global timer for the whole app.
- chatmasta 5mo ago
  For me it’s shorts and opening new tabs from the recommended videos on the one I’m currently watching… I usually never get to them though. Luckily I don’t have tab hoarding addiction and aggressively close all tabs whenever I realize I’ve got 20+ of them open.

sdeframond 5mo ago

I use Unhook on firefox and disabled the YouTube app. https://unhook.app/ https://unhook.app/

socalgal2 5mo ago

I deleted Instagram a few years ago. Unfortunately too many restaurants and friends want to connect there so I recently re-installed. I was lucky to never get addicted but, not making excuses, the moment I open the app, I click the logo at the top and pick "Following" and then I see only my friends. Of course it's not sticky (roll-eyes) but at least there's a way to mostly avoid the algo

chatmasta 5mo ago
I definitely miss some aspects of instagram. It was the reels that killed me. Not worth the mental cost. But I have no idea what my friends from college are up to these days because I don’t have that background knowledge informed from the 1% of posts in my feed that were actually personally relevant. Overall I definitely feel mentally healthier without that app though.
prmoustache 5mo ago
What do restaurants have to do with instagram?

projektfu 5mo ago

I use the Minimalist launcher on Android and it's working pretty well. I have a rule that I don't use Facebook on Brave, and I have Chrome behind a wait, as is Reddit. I uninstalled other addictive apps, (e.g. Instagram, Facebook App) because I just don't use them anymore. Working better than I expected.

ihaveajob 5mo ago

I use https://steplimit.com/ https://steplimit.com/ to both cure my Reddit addiction and to walk more. You earn minutes on your tracked app(s) by walking. If you run out of minutes, either stop scrolling or go for a walk. It's so simple and so effective.

gf263 5mo ago
Whenever I see something like this, I think wow this is gonna be so effective and change my life and then two weeks later it’s uninstalled and I’m slack jaw standing over the sink browsing Instagram
- DANmode 5mo ago
  These are tools for people interested in making a change. You’re not, yet.
  - gf263 5mo ago
    I’ve been interested for a decade+, but appreciate the condescension
    - al_borland 5mo ago
      I’ve found the most effective tool to be uninstalling the apps, being logged out in the browser, then building up a deep resentment for the manipulative practices these apps/sites employ. Friends send me links on Instagram all the time and it’s always a multi-step process to see it in the browser without being logged in. It’s half-broken and super annoying. If a search query sends me to Instagram, it just breaks 80% of the time and locks me out. If I click on any of the bait designed to lure people into view more content, it will throw up a wall and require downloading the app or logging in. This all serves to fuel the hate I have for these platforms. If they’re going to make it that hard to use, I don’t want to use it, and there must be very powerful and financially motivated reasons why they are pushing me toward a certain engagement model. I once took screenshots of all the BS I had to go through when he sent me one of those links, so he could see how bad it was and stop spamming me with every other video in his algorithm. At the time it was a 3-4 step process of dismissing modal windows for every link he sent.

johanneskrabbe 5mo ago

One sec broke my habit for a month or so but then it got back to “normal”. A friend of mine developed Amba - with that you need a physical nfc chip to unlock your apps. Ofc im biased but for me it works way better. https://openamba.app/ https://openamba.app/

thoughtpeddler 5mo ago

+1 for One Sec, a fantastic app, if one has the patience to wire it up using Apple’s first-party Shortcuts app (which is probably the main reason most normies aren’t going to use it). Really helped curb my Instagram usage down from about ~15 minutes per day to around ~5 minutes/day at most, and often now a few days go by without me checking the app at all. It is remarkable how much a 4, 6, or 10 second wait will just cause me to say “nah, forget it, I don’t care anymore”. Like, how much of a dumb ape am I?

skinfaxi 5mo ago
> Like, how much of a dumb ape am I? Don't be so hard on yourself. You are human.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
baxtr 5mo ago
There is a nice book by Jonathan Haidt about this called The Happiness Hypothesis. He uses a "Elephant and Rider" psychological metaphor to describe the internal battle between our rational mind (the rider) and our emotional, intuitive drives (the elephant). We think the rider is in control. But he isn’t!
- ErigmolCt 5mo ago
  [dead]
haaland_goat 5mo ago
I also love it. Made me realize how unimportant Instagram was for me.
ErigmolCt 5mo ago
If 6 seconds is enough to make the urge disappear, it probably wasn't a real intention in the first place

schugazi 5mo ago

Huge fan of One Sec - I think I've tried every screen time reducing app out there and it is my favorite. ScreenZen is another good one

reaperducer 5mo ago

There is a great habit-breaking app called “One Sec.” You configure it with your addicting apps or websites and it uses iOS shortcuts to interrupt you when you open them Also effective (in my experience) is to use the Accessibility settings to turn down the screen saturation 90%. A black-and-white phone is far less tempting to use, and quickly becomes tiresome.

ahmadtbk 5mo ago

logging out of apps after you finish using them is a simpler approach

kombookcha 5mo ago

There is a similar app called ScreenZen that can be set up with a timer like this, or small math problems. It's exceedingly effective at breaking the loop by forcing you to do a tiny task first - you're not impeded from doing anything important, but the mindless loops get broken up.

resonious 5mo ago

For me, 2 kids and 2 jobs has done wonders for curbing my social media habits.

jorisw 5mo ago

> uses iOS shortcuts A friend showed this to me yesterday and I was impressed that Shortcuts are able to intervene like this. The whole premise of a third party app introducing these 'launch pauses' seemed very unlikely on iOS. Based on this I'm now using Shortcuts to mute the phone before opening any offending auto-play-videos-with-sound apps (such as Instagram).

netsharc 5mo ago

The selfie camera should take a picture of you, and after e.g. a year it can show how you aged while spending your time trying to consume Instagram/YouTube/etc...

dmaa 5mo ago

I use browser only, then it is fairly easy to vibcode a userscript blocker, which does more or less the same as this app. It syncs between all devices as well. Of course, one can always turn userscripts off, but the pause to think helps already.

ErigmolCt 5mo ago

This seems like the same basic insight from a different angle: don't rely on willpower, change the cost of the impulse